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camper
just visiting this planet
Premium Member
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT

1 recommendation

camper

Premium Member

Why is broadband more expensive in the US?

 
»www.bbc.co.uk/news/magaz ··· 24528383

"Home broadband in the US costs far more than elsewhere. At high speeds, it costs nearly three times as much as in the UK and France, and more than five times as much as in South Korea. Why?..."

The comparison charts in the article show just how poor US broadband is...
dstathop
join:2013-09-04
Madison, AL

1 recommendation

dstathop

Member

Also realize that cable companies here in the states and wireless providers are unhappy with how little we in the US are paying for data. So, if you were to give them their due our true rates would double over night.

In reality this is an old story and if you look back 10 years ago you will see the same thing with trends in the states being more for less. A lot less when compared to other countries that are connected.

Ripper
Premium Member
join:2002-02-07
Lake Worth, FL

1 recommendation

Ripper to camper

Premium Member

to camper
The main reason cost is lower, is that those other countries probably highly subsidize the broadband service.

flwpwr
@comcast.net

flwpwr to camper

Anon

to camper
I love shitty columnists, no touch on why it costs more at all, just that it does, whats the difference in governemnt charges for right or way, do they even have those things in the UK? Power which the lines will have to buy form the power co, whats the difference in price there? Does the government fund the cable comapny in any way? Difference in cost of channel prices? Nice generic article, but some meat would be tasty in those things.

Just like the big goggle fiber storm, I told you the things were different behind the scenes, 3 moths later everyone is writing an article finally on how google has cities bending over backward to get the service there but would CHARGE the local existing providers out the ass to let them do the same thing. People seem to think fairies with magic wands with the behind the scenes parts. I just don't get how you can call yourself a reporter and write an article you never had to leave your desk or make a phone call to complete. Any of us could search for the costs on websites using zipcodes, that's not working as a reporter IMO.

camper
just visiting this planet
Premium Member
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT

1 recommendation

camper

Premium Member

As you have found out, it is very easy to be critical of what a reporter writes, but much more difficult to actually substantiate the criticism.

mb6
join:2000-07-23
Washington, NJ

2 recommendations

mb6 to camper

Member

to camper
Because Capitalism has run amok! Our government has been bought and paid for by big business and less than 1% of our population control 95% of our wealth. Trickle Down economics have failed. Time to experiment with Trickle Up economics...

Wayne99021
Premium Member
join:2004-12-28
Mead, WA

1 recommendation

Wayne99021

Premium Member

mb.
I totally agree with what you said, Everything in our country is now being controlled by big business, but as far as internet cost. I am paying almost 3 times more than I did with a 56K connection back in 1995, but am getting about a hundred times the speed and features, to me that's a bargain.
Would I like to pay less? of course I would, but have no complaints on what I am paying now.

Geot
@verizon.net

2 recommendations

Geot

Anon

Population Density is a big factor also.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li ··· _density

»www.citymayors.com/stati ··· 125.html
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

1 recommendation

pandora to camper

Premium Member

to camper
I entered a London postal code of SE10AA picked somewhat at random via a google search of London postal codes after visiting this site »www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/ to discover how good London has it.

The cost is £3.75 plus a £15.40 line charge, with speeds "up to" 16 mbs, no caps. I search rural vacations, and discover "Kingston, East Lothian, Scotland" where service speed is unknown (I couldn't find it), and costs are higher £39.99 for unlimited. »www.kc.co.uk/home/broadband/

Comcast I'm in a suburb, paying $60 per month without a cap (Comcast business). It's tough to know if I'd have to pay more or less for a comparable U.K. service, or what the speed would be.

In Kingston, Scotland, U.K. I'd be paying about the same as here in the U.S.

How service compares, I don't know.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

And the biggy what are the taxes and subsidies and gov't policies, and RoW laws and codes.
Also how do they really equate the dollar values?
ie most of Europe already has universal healthcare and pensions, so the remaining cash value of a salary (the take home) ends up being spent differently than in the US, food costs, housing, recreation and many other lifestyle choices are quite different.
Expand your moderator at work

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22 to camper

Member

to camper

Re: Why is broadband more expensive in the US?

It is suspected that a good amount of collusion is happening as well.

DownTheShore
Pray for Ukraine
Premium Member
join:2003-12-02
Beautiful NJ

2 recommendations

DownTheShore

Premium Member

Ditto that.

Plus the cable and telcos own the various regulatory agencies, and have paid off the local governments. The consumers don't have any true representation at the table.

nwrickert
Mod
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL

1 recommendation

nwrickert to camper

Mod

to camper
said by camper:

it costs nearly three times as much as in the UK and France

Corporate greed.
pauldenton
join:2003-12-20
London

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hmm - this typically lazy BBC article tracks back to this, without bothering to dig beneath the figures to the reality beneath.....
»newamerica.net/publicati ··· ity_2013

ppp rates it used are here
»data.worldbank.org/indic ··· .NUS.PPP

so £0.66 to the $ (or more normally expressed 1.51515......)

for London it quotes:
"triple play" non high speed from Sky, at $38.26 (ppp) per month 16 down, 1.3 up no cap (i.e. £25.25) - this is wrong, the cheapest triple play from them is £21.50+£15.40 line rental after the initial 6 months of a 12 month contract (due to an offer on the TV part)
»www.cable.co.uk/compare/ ··· bundles/

and for high speed, Virgin cable at $47.35/month (ppp) for 100 down (£31.25)- this is flatly wrong.... the minimum charge for that speed (in the minority of london that is cabled ) is £27/month, plus £14.99 for the phone line (not available on it's own at that speed - only at 30 down at £22.50/month)

you can get something at that price, but it will be throttled back to 60 down.....

one thing that significantly raises the cost here is that all will include 20% VAT (i.e. of every £6 one pays, £1 goes straight to the treasury as sales tax )
pauldenton

pauldenton to pandora

Member

to pandora
quote:
I search rural vacations, and discover "Kingston, East Lothian, Scotland" where service speed is unknown (I couldn't find it), and costs are higher £39.99 for unlimited. »www.kc.co.uk/home/broadband/

Comcast I'm in a suburb, paying $60 per month without a cap (Comcast business). It's tough to know if I'd have to pay more or less for a comparable U.K. service, or what the speed would be.

In Kingston, Scotland, U.K. I'd be paying about the same as here in the U.S.
not being from the UK you aren't to know that's neither rural nor in scotland - Kingston Communications serves Kingston-upon-Hull (more commonly just called "Hull" to distinguish it from other "Kingstons")
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston
which has a unique telephone history that has left them stuffed for broadband, with a single monopoly supplier
quote:
On 22 August 1902, Hull Corporation (which later became Hull City Council) was granted a licence under the Telegraph Act 1899 to operate a municipal telephone system in the Kingston upon Hull area, opening its first telephone exchange on 28 November 1904 at the former Trippett Street Baths.
At the time, there were a number of such municipal telephone companies around the UK, all of which – with the exception of the one in Hull– were gradually absorbed into the Post Office Telephone department, which was subsequently to become British Telecom (BT). Hull's bid to renew its licence in 1914 was made conditional on the £192,000 purchase of National Telephone Company infrastructure in the city. The council gave its approval, securing the future of the country's only remaining municipally owned telephone corporation.
.
Hull has therefore remained an exception within the UK telephone network, being the only place in the UK not served by BT and is noted for its distinctive cream coloured telephone boxes and innovative services, for example becoming the UK's first fully digital network in 1989
.
.
KC's Hull operation covers a relatively small geographical area. Although it is under the same Ofcom and EU obligations in terms of local loop unbundling the market is relatively small and the economics generally do not justify entry by other companies. A further complication for any would-be rival of KC is that in Hull the first 1 km of wire from the exchange has a cross-section of 0.3 mm sq, as opposed to the standard 0.5 mm sq, requiring a more expensive DSLAM in the telephone exchange for providing an ADSL service.

As residents and most businesses in Hull are served only with telecoms services by KC, some service users are unhappy with the monopoly position KC has in the Hull area. The main concern is that of Internet service provision; KC's Karoo service is the only residential broadband operator in the Hull area. According to a decision from the European Commission in 2004, KCOM Group PLC (“Kingston") have a 100% market share in the wholesale market of broadband services in the Hull area. Considerations include concerns over KC's acceptable use policy, the cost of the service and the inability to use other providers.........................In May 2008 the "Review of the wholesale broadband access markets"[10] report published by Ofcom determined that KC was not acting in a way that would keep out rival companies, and that pricing for wholesale broadband and access to local-loop unbundling was within the market range. The main reason cited by rivals for not providing services in the Hull area was rather one of overall cost effectiveness, given the relatively small number of potential customers (190,000 homes), and the fact that many of these would be likely to remain with the incumbent supplier. In July 2009, Nexus Telecom signed an agreement with KC enabling them to offer effective wholesale line rental and call tariffs to business consumers within the Hull area so giving them a choice of service provider.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCOM_Group

in an actual rural location you'd either have:
a) exactly the same offering from Sky (but in reality muich lower speeds)
or
b) some kind of subsidised local offering (probably expensive, and capped)
or
c) no broadband at all

»www.ispreview.co.uk/inde ··· ges.html

Xioden
Premium Member
join:2008-06-10
Monticello, NY

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Xioden to Wayne99021

Premium Member

to Wayne99021
You forget the part where the costs of actually providing the service have gone down massively, to where it more than makes up for the increased speed and usage from the ISP's persepective.

In the end you're just paying 3 times more for something that is costing them many times less.